


Peril from Unseen Foes

by zetsubonna



Series: On Va Voir [14]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 19:50:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2122545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zetsubonna/pseuds/zetsubonna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>U-S: Steve & Bucky live together in a small flat somewhere. Some people come for the Winter Soldier. They tranq Steve, enter by his room and progress to Bucky’s. Buck wakes up, neutralizes the threat, then goes to see Steve. During the attack, WS surged forth, but seeing Steve unresponsive just buries Bucky under him. Bucky is worried and WS’s paranoia kicks in: he takes Steve, goes off the radar, and dispatches the few who manage to track them, be they enemies or allies. [After that, IDK] I just wanted to see Winter’s skill serving Bucky’s first instinct, like in Original Programming, and I didn’t find any fic treating this subject.[References potential Natasha/WS standoff but admits she has no idea where she wants it to go.]</p><p>/cracks knuckles<br/>A’ight, darlings. On va voir.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peril from Unseen Foes

He hovered, always, between wakefulness and sleep. The joke between the two of them, bitter and moody, was that seventy years on ice was enough sleep for anyone, and insomnia was a better use of their time.

They were sleeping in separate beds, in separate rooms. It wasn’t what either of them wanted. Was it Steve who wanted to make sure Bucky was alive, breathing, and close? Was it Bucky who wanted to be sure Steve  _existed_ , wasn’t a hallucination or a lie? Or was it the reverse? It was mutual for both of them, but so were the nightmares, the screaming nightmares- they were mirrors reflecting each other, triggering each other and having to calm each other down while desperate and shaking.

Some nights, they’d brave it, but most, they sacrificed a certain measure of intimacy in favor of actual, much needed sleep.

He moved before he was awake. He kept his guns in the spare bedroom because he wasn’t at all certain of his stability and he didn’t want to take extra risks, but he found his mouth dry and wished he had one closer. Whatever was wrong, it was in Steve’s room. He drew in a slow, steadying breath, feeling himself go colder. He had to. He couldn’t handle this raw, he had to perform at peak if Steve was in actual danger.

Muffled footsteps, too many to be Steve alone, at least four bodies in the room. Window was the point of entry, and that was Bucky-Soldier’s fault- he’d been smoking in it, flirting with Steve before bed, and he couldn’t recall if he had locked it. He must not have.

He slammed through the door and crippled the first two assailants before they could react, crushing his metal arm across the windpipe of one and using a brutal kick to slam the other mercilessly to the ground. He knew enough of his strength to predict at least three broken ribs the moment his bare foot made impact. The third assailant was armed- a taser or a tranquilizer gun or  _something_ , and Bucky-Soldier didn’t care what. He reached out with his metal hand and crushed his wrist like a beer can, leaving the weapon to clatter to the floor. The final invader came at him from behind the bedroom door, but Bucky-Soldier had known he was there all along, and he hit him full in the face with the edge of Steve’s shield, sending teeth flying out and blood splashing across the vibranium.

Their enemies incapacitated, Bucky-Soldier immediately went to Steve.

He was  _completely unconscious_. It wasn’t good. It was bad, very bad. Even before the serum, Steve had been a light sleeper, but after? Bucky could scarcely enter the room without him coming at least half awake.

There was something, he noticed, glittery and silver poking out of the middle of Steve’s chest, half hidden in the sheet.

"Tranquilizer," he rasped, frowning. Only a few people could come up with drugs strong enough to take down Steve- and none of them were looking for Captain America. They weren’t ready for trouble, not yet. Hydra, of course, glowing like a malevolent phoenix in the ashes of SHIELD, and the Hulkbuster unit. If it could take out the Hulk, it could take out Steve.

 _No. No, no, no, no_. He shook him, shook him hard, steadied himself and gave Steve a quick slap across the face- with his right hand of course- but nothing came of it. Steve was completely unresponsive. The home invaders who had broken into their home would come around in a few minutes. Without Steve-  _No, no, no_. There would be no ‘without Steve.’

It took him less than four minutes. He was dressed and armed to satisfaction, and, in six more, so was Steve. With Steve’s unconscious bulk over his shoulder, guns strapped to his hips and thighs and the shield on his arm, Bucky-Soldier disappeared into the night.

***

The more they ran, the further into the corners they hid, the more the Soldier came forward and Bucky retreated back. It had been eight hours and Steve wasn’t awake. He didn’t dare trust Wilson, not at this hour, not without an  _arsenal_. He didn’t trust Romanov, either, she was unpredictable on her best day.  _No, no, no_. The Soldier would protect the Captain on his own. It was the first mission, the only one that mattered, and like this, helpless, vulnerable, the Captain needed him even more than he had when he was small and fragile.

He had no safehouses in this city. He had no allies, no resources. He had his guns, his strength and the Captain’s dead-weight bulk. He hauled him up to the roof of a building and propped him carefully against a wall, studying his face in the light of the late morning and chewing at his own mouth. He missed, for the first time, his  _mask_. It was too bright out here. His distance vision was compromised. He couldn’t measure all points of approach as effectively as he preferred.

The Captain was fair and unmasked. He would heal quickly, but he would still burn in the sun. The Soldier needed a better plan. He needed- he needed-

The Captain stirred. “Bucky?” he croaked.

The Soldier leaned in, peeling open his eye with his right, bare hand. He grunted quietly. “Ты проснулся.”

The Captain started, trying to force his way out of the fog in his brain. “Where are we?”

"Движемся. Опасность повсюду."

"Christ," the Captain moaned, rubbing at the spot on his chest where the tranquilizer had hit him. If the needle had been longer, it would have punctured his heart. The Soldier would not allow himself to consider it. "You’re speaking Russian again."

The Soldier tilted his head to the side. “Какое это имеет значение?”

"I guess it doesn’t," the Captain acknowledged. "I remember enough to understand you, anyway."

"Ты можешь идти?" The Soldier stood, offering the Captain his hand. He took it, and pulled himself up. "Мы не можем вернуться домой."

The Captain used the Soldier’s steady hand to pull himself to his feet, though he staggered and bumped against him, groaning with evident fatigue and pain.

"Bucky," the Captain forced his head up enough to reach out and touch the Soldier’s cheek. "You’ve gone deep again, haven’t you?"

"Да."

He looked so sorrowful, the Soldier almost became impatient. They didn’t have time for sentiment now, the Captain’s life was in danger. The Soldier could be reacquired. Neither outcome was acceptable. “Я вернусь.”

The Captain searched his eyes, frowning. “When?”

The Soldier huffed.  _When the mission is complete, obviously._  The words that came out were English, which annoyed him, but the Captain seemed relieved.

"When you’re safe."


End file.
